David Michôd (/ˈmɪʃoʊ/MISH-oh;[1] born 30 November 1972) is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.[2][3][4] He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed crime drama Animal Kingdom (2010) and dystopian drama The Rover (2014). He also co-wrote Hesher (2010).

Michôd was educated at Sydney Grammar School before moving to Melbourne to study arts at the University of Melbourne. After working for the Victorian Department of Education he decided to attend film school while in his mid-20s. He later served as editor of Inside Film magazine, serving in the role between 2003 and 2006.[3][5][6]

Michôd began his directing career in short films, with Ezra White, LL.B. in 2006 being one of the first to make an impact.[7] In 2007, Michôd's short film Crossbow, a coming-of-age drama was premiered at Venice Film Festival and received positive response from critics.[8][9] Afterwards, the film competed at number of film festivals and earned good reviews. The film also screened at Sundance Film Festival and won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay in a Short Film.[10][11]

In 2010, he released his first feature film, Animal Kingdom. The film was widely acclaimed by critics and received several awards and nominations.[3][5][20][21][22] Dave Calhoun from Time Out compared him to Martin Scorsese saying that "He brings a big dose of Scorsese to Melbourne in telling of a fictional crime family."[23] J.R. Jones of Chicago Reader praised Michôd''s director saying "Writer-director David Michôd creates a densely textured moral universe that makes good on his metaphoric title."[24] Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic said that "The naturalistic style Michôd employs adds to the sense of dread. Is there no way out of this existence?"[25] The film became the third highest grossing Australian film at the Australian box office in 2010, with a worldwide box office gross of US$5,775,563.[26]

On April 14, 2014, it was announced that Michôd will write and direct The Operators, based on the 2011 best seller of the same name by Michael Hastings. The film will be jointly produced by Plan B Entertainment, New Regency and RatPac Entertainment, with Brad Pitt attached to star.[37][38] It was later retitled as War Machine. In March 2017, Netflix released a teaser trailer for the film in which Brad Pitt is playing a thinly veiled version of Stanley A. McChrystal. Hastings wrote the Rolling Stone article that revealed the friction between McChrystal's staff and then President Barack Obama's and would ultimately lead to McChrystal losing his job. Pitt's character is named McMahon.[39]

This chart lists every actor who has appeared in more than one film directed by Michôd. Anthony Hayes, Joel Edgerton, and Mirrah Foulkes are Michôd's most frequent collaborators, with Hayes and Edgerton each having appeared in four and Foulkes in five of his films.

^Davies, Luke (June 2013). "Joel Edgerton after Gatsby". The Monthly. Retrieved May 18, 2018. With David Michôd he has written King, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts I & II, and Henry V, for Warner Bros.